[05/01/12 - 07:59 AM]Bravo Media Partners With Infiniti on Innovative Twitter Contest for New Culinary Competition Series "Around the World in 80 Plates"Infiniti is one of the official sponsors of the series, which premieres on Wednesday, May 9 at 10:00/9:00c.

[via press release from Bravo]

BRAVO MEDIA PARTNERS WITH INFINITI ON INNOVATIVE TWITTER CONTEST FOR NEW CULINARY COMPETITION SERIES "AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 PLATES"

The Location-Based Social Contest Allows Fans To Win Plane Tickets To The Destination Featured On The Show Each Week

NEW YORK - May 1, 2012 - Bravo Media teams up with Infiniti for a first-time, interactive 80 Plates Tweet Challenge that gives fans the chance to win plane tickets to the destinations featured on the network's new culinary competition "Around the World in 80 Plates," this was announced today in conjunction with NBCUniversal's digital Upfront (#NBCUNewfront). Bravo and Infiniti have exclusively partnered on a location-based social contest that encourages fans to tweet #80plateschallenge in order to unlock 10 secret locations across the US through an interactive map on http://www.bravotv.com/challenge and on Bravo mobile. Each week, fans will race to find the hidden plane tickets to that week's featured destination on the show including Argentina, China, England, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain, Thailand, the United States and Uruguay. Infiniti is one of the official sponsors of "Around the World in 80 Plates," which premieres on Wednesday, May 9 at 10pm ET/PT. For more information, visit www.BravoTV.com and follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BravoPR.

"Bravo has always been an innovative leader in the area of social media and our partners are always keen to get involved with our new social initiatives that drive engagement," said Ellen Stone, SVP of Marketing for Bravo. "The 80 Plates Tweet Challenge is just one of our new offerings that delivers a deeper level of engagement, combining a social contest with real-life experience, while providing our partners access to Bravo's socially active fans through a fun, first-ever experience with tangible rewards."

Reinforcing the culinary race premise of the series, fans will have to hit the streets in a new secret city each week to discover the tickets. The location of the tickets will be revealed through an interactive map on BravoTV.com and on Bravo mobile Bravotv.com/challenge. Starting with a map of the US, the contest goes live at 12pm ET every Wednesday and the only way to get the map to zoom in and pinpoint the location of the tickets is by tweeting #80plateschallenge on Twitter. Players will have to encourage their friends to participate because the more tweets received, the faster the location will be discovered. When the map finally uncovers the city, fans must race to find the secret location. The first person to locate the tickets on the windshield of an Infiniti JX, wins the plane tickets.

"Infiniti is thrilled that our luxury performance vehicles, including the all-new JX 7-passenger luxury crossover, are an integral part of "Around the World in 80 Plates," said Ben Poore, Vice President of Infiniti Americas. "If the early buzz and enthusiasm for this new show is any indication, viewers are going to be inspired by not only the competition, but they can also join in and be a part of the excitement by participating in our social media programs."

Bravo will be on-site to capture each week's "winning moments," which will be posted on BravoTV.com and Bravo mobile the next day. Fans can receive a special clue to each week's secret destination by checking out Infiniti's Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/infiniti or Twitter handle http://twitter.com/infinitinews.

Hosted by food experts Curtis Stone and Cat Cora, "Around the World in 80 Plates" takes culinary competition to the next level. Bravo's most ambitious production to date follows 12 chefs competing in a spectacular race over 40 days and across 10 countries, including Argentina, China, England, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain, Thailand, the United States and Uruguay. In each episode, the contestants travel to a different international city to learn the local customs, cultures and cuisines as they battle it out in two different cooking challenges that test their skills and determination. World-renowned restaurateurs and celebrity chefs such as Wolfgang Puck, José Andrés, Nigella Lawson, Narda Lepes and "The Demon Chef" Alvin Leung will serve as Food Ambassadors each week, giving the competing chefs an insight into the local food culture at each destination.

"Around the World in 80 Plates" is produced by Magical Elves for Bravo with Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz serving as Executive Producers.

Bravo is a program service of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been an NBCUniversal cable network since December 2002 and was the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980. For more information, visit www.BravoTV.com. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BravoPR.

Infiniti offers a full-line of luxury performance automobiles, including the G Coupe, Sedan and Convertible, M sedan, EX and FX crossovers, QX full-size SUV and the all-new JX 7-passenger crossover. More information about Infiniti and its Total Ownership Experience(R) can be found at www.InfinitiUSA.com.